Breathe

As parents we can always use a gentle reminder to breathe. However it is definitely easy to forget this when our baby swats a spoon of food away only to have it smack against a kitchen wall, or when our toddler has a tantrum because he wanted to put his right shoe on before his left and you were already late for wherever you needed to be. Giving my child a time-out was typically more about giving me a chance to “breathe”. Amazing how something so simple can change your state of being. For this month’s Fit Tip, Jen explains how to make each breath count–so you can get back to cleaning the sweet potatoes off the wall.Just slowing your breathing can lower your heart rate and blood pressure, allowing your heart to take a break. Try to take your breath into your abdomen (belly breathing), allowing your abdomen to expand as you inhale. This type of breathing allows the muscles of your upper body to relax, and placing your focus on your breath allows you to clear your mind of all of the stuff going on in your life. A few times a day, try to focus on belly breathing, and you may find it to be a nice way to ease away tension brought on throughout your day.
Contributed by Jen Morin, Pilates/Corporate Fitness Director at EVOLUTION bodywork & nutrition in Bristol.

2 comments

What a wonderful way to teach children how to “tune into” their own bodies and impact on the world. Breathing, sucking and blowing (typical child’s play) will also help children (and adults) that have arousal, attention and transition difficulties to calm, concentrate and manage change more easily. A wonderful occupational therapist, Patti Oetter has developed a protocol called the suck- swallow-breathe-synchrony (Oetter, Richter, Frick, 1993) that details more about these activities.

Join us every Friday at 10:30am for Storytime and activity. Our children’s story hour is for children 2-5 years of age (all ages are welcome) and is hosted by one of our storytellers extraordinaire- Miss[...]

Join us every Friday at 10:30am for Storytime and activity. Our children’s story hour is for children 2-5 years of age (all ages are welcome) and is hosted by one of our storytellers extraordinaire- Miss[...]

Storytime will include a story and activity/craft. Ages 2-5 (all ages are welcome) No need to register. Just stop in. Never a charge! Please contact kiddos401@gmail.com or (508) 405-0116 for cancelations. image: courtesy of Kiddos